


Winter's Rain

by Kumarin (Yayoi)



Category: Love Live! School Idol Project
Genre: F/F, Introspection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-29
Updated: 2016-01-29
Packaged: 2018-05-17 00:13:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5846404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yayoi/pseuds/Kumarin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Maki's umbrella doesn't truly shield her from the raindrops -- they still somehow land on her, seep through her clothes and leave her shivering. Yet she isn't about to admit how miserable it makes her feel. (A NicoMaki introspective vignette set post-3rd year graduation.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Winter's Rain

**Author's Note:**

> It's not much -- not even shipping material, really -- but I figured I might as well post it. It at least helped me warm up to writing Maki, who will be a central character in a new multichapter NicoMaki fic I'm working on. Please look for it when it comes out!
> 
> Thank you and enjoy.

The rain is softly pit-pattering against her umbrella and the shoes she chose to wear today aren't waterproof. Her socks are soaked. _I_ _t's fine,_ she tells herself, _they were old anyway._

Just like most other things in her life.

She'd loathe to admit it, but she's been finding life old lately. Not in a harrowing sense, mind you -- she doesn't want to do herself in or anything like that. She's merely tired of the drudgery.

Ever since the third years left, life has been dull for Maki Nishikino. Perhaps it's because _u'_ s disbanded, or perhaps it's because there are now school idol groups appearing all over Japan. Their efforts are pure -- for who doesn't want to miss out on the exciting life of a school idol? -- but too much of the same thing can get tiring.

The cold rain water seeps through her skin down into her bones. She shivers and grasps the handle of the umbrella tighter, wishing she had brought hand-warmers. 

She's been thinking about them often these days -- not the hand warmers, but rather her friends. The ones who left last year. They promised to keep in touch but, much to her dismay, that turned out to be an empty promise.

Well, that's not _quite_ true -- Eli still writes and she received a holiday card from Nozomi not too long ago. But the one person she truly wishes would write to her... Unfortunately, not much can be said for Nico.

The crosswalk signal beeps as Maki crosses. the sidewalk is empty save for a bird dodging raindrops as it searches for food.

There are others still at Otonokizaka, of course -- the girls in the year above her and those in her own year. They're still close enough to be considered friends, so of course she treats them as such. But since _u_ 's ended and most of the original members left the stage for good, she's been quite lonely. Alone in a crowded room, so to speak.

At least she still composes for the new idols at the school. She'll confess it brings her joy to see them onstage, where dreams not only come true, but also last forever.

Then again, she also worries. She fears they'll be foolish enough to believe their onstage fantasies are real. Yet... she doesn't want to be the one to tell them their happiness isn't going to last forever. She's afraid to ask herself why that is, especially since she already knows the answer. In truth, she hopes their reality will be different from her own.

She wipes away tears from her eyes. She's now across the street from her house. It still seems like a long ways to walk in the winter rain, but she's already come this far.

And as she takes a step forward, she wonders what reality is like for her friends now as well.


End file.
